Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Harris, Atkins and DeCesare Endorsed

Dems for Equality Endorses In US Senate, 39th State Senate and City Council 7th District Races

It was literally standing-room only as Democrats for Equality met for endorsement in three big races in next year's election. The Club endorsed Attorney General Kamala Harris to replace Senator Barbara Boxer in the US Senate. We endorsed Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins for the 39th California Senate District and we endorsed Justin DeCesare for San Diego City Council District 7.

Votes ranged from landslide to bare minimum (60%) and one race even required a second ballot. In all cases though, we were able to hear out all the candidates in these contested races and come to a decision. And, we even managed to end the meeting on the same evening we started it.

Following a brief overview of the process the Club uses for endorsements - what candidates are told to expect from the process and what they can expect if endorsed - the Club took up the 39th Senate District. Although Senator Block was unable to attend due to his official duties, he was represented ably by Club member and Senate staffer Roberto Alcantar who read a strong statement of support from State Senator Mark Leno. By a wide margin though, the Club decided that former Club officer, Councilmember, Interim Mayor and current Speaker of the Assembly, Toni Atkins had a better set of experiences and the tools to better lead us in the future. We are proud to endorse her candidacy for the California Senate.

Perhaps the most contentious debates of the evening came in the forum for US Senate. Attorney General Kamala Harris was represented by former Club president, Jess Durfee while San Diego Councilmember David Alvarez stood up for Representative Loretta Sanchez. To demonstrate the strong commitment of our members, our By-laws require a super-majority of 60% to endorse - and AG Harris received exactly 60%. Dems for Equality is proud to join the long list of groups and individuals endorsing Kamala Harris for US Senate.

Our last endorsement for the evening was in the San Diego City

Council District 7 race. Both candidates represented themselves well with statements and in answer to Club member's questions. Following Club procedures as outlined in our By-laws, the first ballot listed both candidates and "No Endorsement". Justin DeCesare received 59.5% of the vote. Once again following our rules, a second vote was held between only DeCesare and No Endorsement. The second ballot handily exceeded the 60% threshold. We're proud to announce the long overdue replacement for Scott Sherman with the endorsement of Justin DeCesare.

In addition to endorsements, the Club gave authority to the Executive Board to appoint the Club's representatives (10 in the 78th Assembly District and 1 in both the 79th and 80th) to the Party's pre-endorsement conference where endorsements in all local US House of Representative and California Senate and Assembly races will be considered. While the total universe of representatives at the Conference in January is unclear, we anticipate that Dems for Equality will have about 10% of all the votes. If you are interesting in representing the Club at the conference, please let us know HERE.

____________________________

Join us for Our 40th Anniversary Brunch

With Our Very Own SPeaker of the Assembly, Toni Atkins, CouncilMember Todd Gloria, SPECIAL GUEST, FORMER SPEAKER OF THE ASSEMBLY JOHN PEREZ, former LA Mayor and Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa and more

Saturday, November 7, 2015 from 11am to 1:30pm

at The Prado Restaurant

1549 El Prado (Balboa Park)

San Diego, CA

Buffet Brunch (Cash Bar).

$40 - Club Members

$50 - Friends of the Club

$250 - Silver Sponsor (2 tickets, 2 mimosas, acknowledgement)

for information on Gold, Platinum, and Ruby Sponsorship, contact Kelvin Barrios at kelvin@randkconsult.com.

Mimosas -$5.

$20 - Bottomless Mimosas.

You may pre-order your mimosas by adding cost to your ticket.

CLICK HERE FOR YOUR TICKETS!

For any questions or special requests, please contact Roberto C. Torres at roberto@randkconsult.com or call (619) 786-7412.

We look forward to having you join our 40th Anniversary Brunch and celebrating 40 years of LGBT activism in the Democratic Party.

By the way, we wear a size 10 in ruby slippers.

____________________________

Keep The Party Going

Our endorsed candidate for San Diego City Council District 9 is also celebrating her 40th Anniversary. Make plans to wish her a happy birthday too!

____________________________

No Club Meeting, What Will I Do?

The Club doesn't meet in November or December. That doesn't mean we won't still be getting together to make plans and swap stories.

We will be celebrating our 40 years of activism with a brunch on November 7th. (See Announcement Above)

Likewise, we're also working on our annual Holiday Party. We'll let you know when in December it will be and what you can bring, but it's always a lot of fun and we hope to see you there.

____________________________

Celebrate 40 Years of Activism by Joining the Club

Democrats for Equality had a very successful 1st half of 2015 and we're well on our way to our goal of 400 members to celebrate our 40th Anniversary. Much of the progressive change in San Diego and in our community can be traced directly or indirectly through the work of our members.

We're not finished and we need you to get the job done. If you've let your membership lapse, NOW would be a good time to renew. If you want to be a part of the change, join NOW. Our members make history. Join us.

The Club depends on membership dues to keep the lights on and promote our

candidates and issues to the community. A large number of community members depend on our Voters Guide to help them make an intelligent choice when marking their ballots so your membership renewal is critical to ensure those Guides get into those hands. At the risk of sounding like a Public Television pledge drive, if you depend on our endorsements, Voters Guide, newsletters, social media posts and programs, you should be a member!

If your membership has lapsed or if you know your membership is soon to expire, please re-up now. You might also consider upgrading your membership to a higher level.

You can find out more about the Club's membership levels and benefits online HERE. If you would prefer to use a check, send the check, made out to Democrats for Equality to:

San Diego Democrats for Equality

PO Box 33050

San Diego CA 92163

Note that in order to comply with Federal and State election laws, please include your full address where you are registered to vote and your job title/employer with your check. Telephone number and email address would be nice too!

_________________________________

Like Us, Really Like Us

San Diego Democrats for Equality's Facebook page has been number 1 among County Democratic Clubs for a while now. Even so, we've got quite a few new members so we're putting this out again. Please Like Us! Facebook includes the number of likes on a page as part of their complex algorithm to decide if our posts should be widely distributed or not. If you like us now, more people will see our Voter's Guide in their timeline next year. Twitter has different rules, but the effect is the same. The more people who follow us on Twitter means more people seeing our Tweets.

If you are on Facebook or Twitter and you haven't already liked/followed us, please do it now.

https://www.facebook.com/dems4equality

@SDDems4Equality

_______________________________

Dems for Equality Endorsed Candidates 2016

President

Hillary Clinton

US Senate

Kamala Harris

Congress

CA-53 Susan Davis

CA-52 Scott Peters

California Senate

SD-39 Toni Atkins

California Assembly

AD-78 Todd Gloria

AD-79 Shirley Weber

Board of Supervisors

Dist 3 Dave Roberts

San Diego City Council

Dist 3 Chris Ward

Dist 7 Justin DeCesare

Dist 9 Georgette Gomez

SDUSD

Sub-Dist D Richard Barrera

Sub-Dist A John Lee Evans

____________________________

As we work toward a better future for our community and Country, take a couple minutes to remember what we've already done with a short history of the our accomplishments.